A half-brother of Osama
bin Laden (news - web sites) says he enjoyed most of Michael
Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," except for what he
called "inaccuracies" about his family. It's
a moving film," Yeslam Binladin, a Geneva-based tycoon
and one of the al-Qaida leader's 54 siblings, said in
an interview with the French magazine VSD.
"I even laughed at
times," said Binladin, adding, "but a lot less
when he states errors or inaccuracies about my family,
knowing perfectly well that he's deceiving the public."
In the film, Moore says President Bush (news - web sites)
tried to cover up his family's longtime business and personal
ties to the family of Osama bin Laden and other prominent
Saudis because many of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
One of his main points
is that the U.S. administration helped 142 Saudis —
including two dozen members of bin Laden's family —
fly out of the United States two days after the Sept.
11 attacks, even though commercial air space was closed.
"That's false and can be verified by anyone,"
said the Saudi-born Binladin, who intentionally spells
his name differently from Osama, the prime suspect in
the Sept. 11 attacks. "They benefited from no exceptional
authorization to leave American territory." A
recent 9/11 panel report states that the chartered flights
took place starting Sept. 14, once airspace had reopened.
Binladin, who has lived in Geneva for many years and has
Swiss citizenship, told the magazine that his U.S.-based
family members flew into Geneva on Sept. 20 before taking
off again for Saudi Arabia.
The movie also states that several family members attended
a 2001 wedding of one of Osama bin Laden's sons in Afghanistan
(news - web sites) — a claim Binladin says is exaggerated.
"Nobody from my family was at this wedding in Afghanistan
except for the mother of Osama," said Binladin. Yeslam
and Osama are among the 54 sons and daughters of the late
Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden and his
22 wives. Binladin,
the founder of Geneva-based financial company Sico, said
the last time he saw his younger half-brother was before
Osama left Saudi Arabia in 1981.
